Cooking

Outdoor cooking is a huge part of the Scouting adventure. At Troop 412, each patrol has a cook box, a propane stove, dutch ovens and other cooking gear. While there are a lot of campgrounds that no longer allow ground fires, there are several opportunities each year for true campfire cooking. A grub-master is assigned to each patrol for every campout. His job is to help create a menu with his patrol, shop for the groceries and head up the cooking of the meals during the campout. Troop 412 encourages cooking meals that require a little creativity and inventiveness. Prepared food (pork ‘n’ beans, hot dogs, cold cereal) is strongly discouraged unless the schedule calls for a quick meal. On most campouts, there is plenty of time for Scouts to experiment and have some fun preparing a great meal for their patrol.

Spread 1/4 of the enchilada sauce in dutchie.
Tear up 8 of the tortillas and layer over sauce.
Spoon on 1/2 of the meat mixture.
Tear up the rest of the tortillas and layer over meat mixture.
Pour enchilada sauce and then finish with the rest of the meat mixture and another layer of sauce. Top with cheese.

Mix together soups, milk, thyme, pepper, vegetables and chicken. Pour into 12” Dutch Oven. Cover and BAKE at ~400 degrees for 10-15 minutes until hot and bubbly. Stir in shredded cheese.
Carefully place biscuits on top of chicken mixture, starting in the center and making sure the biscuits touch each other so they will rise. Replace cover and BAKE at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown. (Be careful not to have too much heat on the top of the Dutch Oven or you will burn the biscuits).
This is a great recipe to use up left-over chicken and vegetables if you have them.
Serves 6-8

This article deals more with the technique involved to cook a perfect meatloaf and less with the particular recipe for the meatloaf. There are no limits to what exactly can go into a meatloaf. Google meatloaf recipes if you need ideas. The use of a dutch oven imparts a fabulous flavor to the meatloaf and it is an excellent
outdoor meal to feed several people with minimal effort. The basic idea is to make the meatloaf, heat the dutch oven, cook for 45 minutes to an hour and enjoy. Here is the breakdown of the steps involved with pictures of the entire process..

Prepare your meatloaf according to your favorite recipe or as I usually do, based on what you have in your kitchen at the time. This article uses a 2 pound meatloaf. You can size your according to your needs. Cooking time for a one pound loaf would be about the same.

Start briquettes in your barbecue as you normally would for any grilling. For this dutch oven recipe you will need about 10 briquettes for the bottom of the oven and about 20 for the lid.

When the briquettes are almost half white it’s time to transfer them to the dutch oven. Put a layer of 10 briquettes on the bottom then set the dutch oven on top of these briquettes.

Put the lid on the oven and place 20 -24 briquettes on top of the lid. Let the oven warm up like this for a few minutes.

Add bacon pieces to season/grease the oven. A few pieces should be plenty to get a grease layer on the bottom of the oven to make sure the meatloaf doesn’t stick.

Add the prepared meatloaf to the dutch oven. This recipe uses a coating of tomato sauce over the top of the loaf with a few strips of bacon layer on top of this. If you aren’t using a sauce layer on top this will still work fine.

Put the lid back on top of the oven and leave it alone for about forty five minutes.

After about forty five minutes lift the lid and see how things are progressing. You could use a meat thermometer inserted half way through the meatloaf to check
the internal temperature for doneness if you wish. When the meatloaf is done to the desired internal temperature (160 degress F) use 2 spatulas and lift the meatloaf out of the oven and onto a serving platter. Let this set for a few moments before slicing it for serving. Use this time to clean your oven.

Drain the dutch oven of the left over grease immediately and wipe clean with paper towels. If you do this step immediately the dutch oven will wipe clean with
ease and save you a ton of time later on. After you wipe it clean you can leave it over the coals for awhile to help further season the stove if you wish.
Let the stove cool slowly until it is cool to the touch and can be stored safely. A few paper towels placed inside the oven and around the lid will help the dutch
oven store better.

Don’t pour cold water into a hot dutch oven, this could crack the stove.

Line dutch oven with HD aluminum foil.
Empty cherry pie filling into dutch oven and spread evenly on the bottom
Pour in the boxes of chocolate cake mix and spread evenly.
Pour can of Sprite or 7-Up in carefully – makes the cobbler more moist.
Top with chocolate chips and butter cut into 1/2 slices.
Put lid on oven, put the dutch oven on top of 12 hot coals and put another 8 hot coals on top of the lid.
Cook for 45 minutes
Feeds 8-12 depends on how good dinner was!

So first cook the bacon a little bit. Not so it’s crispy or anything but so it’s kinda cooked. The bacon should still be soft. Next wrap the bacon around the dried apricot. Stab the toothpick through the bacon and apricot. Put on the Dutch oven lid to finish cooking. Bacon will not be crispy.

Make desired size pancake on greased griddle and then using the piping bag and starting at the center of the pancake, create a cinnamon swirl. Wait until the pancake has lots of bubble before you try to turn it. You will find that when you turn it the cinnamon swirl will melt. The cinnamon will melt out and create the craters which the cream cheese glaze will fill.

To make the Cream Cheese Glaze:
In a microwave safe bowl melt the butter and cream cheese and then stir together. Whisk in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Add a little milk if needed to make
it a glaze consistency.

Put sausage in medium saucepan and constantly stir and break up in order to properly brown. Do not drain.
Once sausage is completely browned, add both cans of Rotel.
Let that cook and meld together for about 2 minutes.
Add both cream cheese bars.Constantly stir in order to make sure that cream cheese is completely melted. There should be no lumps of cheese. The cheese melts better with both the hot sausage and Ro-tel.
Eat with Totillla / Corn chips.

Mix together soup, milk, thyme, pepper, vegetables and chicken. Pour into 12” Dutch Oven. Cover and BAKE at ~400 degrees for 10-15 minutes until hot and bubbly. Stir in shredded cheese.
Carefully place biscuits on top of chicken mixture, starting in the center and making sure the biscuits touch each other so they will rise. Replace cover and BAKE at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown. (Be careful not to have too much heat on the top of the Dutch Oven or you will burn the biscuits).
This is a great recipe to use up left-over chicken and vegetables if you have them.
Serves 6-8

• Place a small amount of enchilada sauce in the bottom of a Dutch Oven to prevent from sticking
• Cover bottom of Dutch Oven with torillas
• Layer about 1/3 of the meat, peppers/onions and some cheese on top of the torillas
• Pour about ¼ of the enchilada sauce over this layer
• Repeat 2 more times (three layers of meat total)
• Cover the top layer with tortillas, cheese and the rest of the enchilada sauce
• Bake in Dutch Oven at 350F for 30 minutes or until heated throughout

• Boil Water and cook pasta according to package directions
• When done, return drained pasta to Dutch Oven
• Add pasta sauce and thawed meatballs, mix well
• Sprinkle cheese over the top
• Bake in Dutch Oven at 300F for 20-30 minutes until heated through

Preheat the Dutch oven. Brown the ground beef. When done remove the beef to a large mixing bowl. Add the spaghetti sauce to the beef and mix well. In another bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, egg(s), and oregano, and mix well.
Put a couple of tablespoons of the meat/sauce mixture in the bottom of the Dutch Oven to prevent sticking. Then place the layers in the oven in the following order: Break up four lasagna noodles into the bottom of the oven. Spread about 1/3 of the meat mixture over the noodles. Spread 1/2 of the cheese mixture over the meat mixture. Sprinkle about 1/3 of the shredded mozzarella cheese over this. Break up five noodles and place over the top of the preceding mixtures. Spread 1/2 of the remaining meat mixture over the noodles. Spread the remaining cheese mixture over the meat mixture and sprinkle about 1/3 of the shredded mozzarella cheese. Break up the remaining noodles and place over the cheese mixture. Spread the remaining meat mixture over the noodles and sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella cheese on top. Pour the hot water all around the edges of the oven. Place the lid on the oven and bake at 350F for 30-40 minutes or until done.

Roll meat in flour. Fry onions, peppers and meat in oil in bottom of hot 12-inch dutch oven until meat is browned. Add remaining ingredients. Add just enough water to almost cover ingredients. Cook until carrots are tender. Serves 6-8.

Trim fat from meat. Brown meat in 12-inch dutch oven in oil. Add vegetables. Mix gravy mix with water and pour over meat and vegetables. Cook over low heat until meat is cooked (pink but hot inside) and carrots are tender (about 1 hour). Stir occasionally,
adding water as required to prevent burning. Allow roast to sit 15 minutes with no heat to allow it to absorb moisture for best tenderness. Serves 6-8.